Sydney Thunder Women vs Melbourne Stars Women, WOMENS BIG BASH LEAGUE 2019-20, Today Match Prediction 27 Nov 2019

sytw vs mlsw Match Prediction & Analysis

For Melbourne Stars, the campaign is already over mathematically. For Sydney Thunder though, this match will be a make or break one. After winning four of their first six matches, Sydney Thunder would have never expected to be in this situation. But with 6 losses on the bounce, their semi-final hopes are hanging by a thread and a victory against Melbourne Stars will be paramount. They would also need a quick turnaround after suffering an excruciating loss against Adelaide Strikers in the super over.

After winning the toss and deciding to bowl, Sydney Thunder's bowlers had a rare off-day in terms of their economy rate as Sophie Devine took the attack to them with an 88-run knock. In return, Sydney Thunder gave a very good account of themselves with Rachel Priest registering a half-century and Naomi Stalenberg giving her good company at the top. Even though there was a flurry of wickets after the impressive 59-run opening stand, it was only due to Rachel Trenaman's quickfire 20 off 9 balls that helped them tie the game. In the resulting super-over, Thunder only managed to score 6 runs against Amanda-Jade Wellington's canny leg-spin bowling and that was never going to be enough with Sophie Devine wiping off the target in 3 balls.

On the other end, Melbourne Stars registered a morale-boosting win against Melbourne Renegades in the last match. Even though the bowlers gave away 165 runs, Lizelle Lee, Mignon du Preez and Erin Osborne's fireworks meant that Melbourne Stars won their second game after a long wait.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Sydney Thunder Women Preview

The Sydney Thunder's batting had been under the spotlight for quite a few games as it is that department that has lost them 6 consecutive matches. On Sunday, they clicked but the target was literally an inch too much as the bowlers couldn’t manage to restrict Sophie Devine in the first inning. A loss against Melbourne Stars could result in the end of Sydney Thunder’s campaign and this will force them to come up with an all-round effort.

Nida Dar's season has come to a premature end with Pakistan called her up to join the team for preparations before a series against England. Rene Farrell or Saskia Horley might slot in instead of her

While most Thunder batters got decent starts, only Alex Blackwell had a failure against Adelaide. It was her 5th consecutive single-digit score and that would be a massive concern for the team. With the ball, Samantha Bates and Lisa Griffith, in particular, were expensive but Thunder wouldn’t fret too much considering that they have been consistent throughout the season.

 

Sydney Thunder Women Predicted Playing XI:

Rachel Priest (WK), Naomi Stalenberg, Alex Blackwell, Rachael Haynes (C), Phoebe Litchfield, Rachel Trenaman, Rene Farrell/Saskia Horley, Hannah Darlington, Shabnim Ismail, Samantha Bates, Lisa Griffith.

Sydney Thunder Women Actual Playing XI:

Naomi Stalenberg, Saskia Horley, Phoebe Litchfield, Shabnim Ismail, Hannah Darlington, Lisa Griffith, Rene Farrell, Rachel Priest, Alex Blackwell, Sam Bates, Rachael Haynes

Melbourne Stars Women Preview

For the Melbourne Stars, there are perhaps lesser problems to deal with after a good win but they will still now that the bowlers need to be more penetrative against Sydney Thunder. Most of the main bowlers with the exception of Holly Ferling gave away 8 runs or more per over and that cannot be the case against Sydney Thunder. It is also important that Madeline Penna and Erin Osborne get back their wicket-taking form from the earlier part of this season.

The South African duo of Lizelle Lee and Mignon du Preez will always ensure that Melbourne Stars put decent runs on the board but skipper Elyse Villani needs to show some consistency as Melbourne Stars look to spoil the party for some teams in the back-end of this season.

Melbourne Stars Women Predicted Playing XI:

Elyse Villani (C), Lizelle Lee (WK), Mignon du Preez, Annabel Sutherland, Alana King, Nicole Faltum (WK), Tess Flintoff, Madeline Penna, Nicola Hancock, Holly Ferling.

Melbourne Stars Women Actual Playing XI:

Nicole Faltum, Erin Osborne, Annabel Sutherland, Lizelle Lee, Nicola Hancock, Alana King, Maddie Penna, Elyse Villani, Tess Flintoff, Holly Ferling, Mignon du Preez

Weather Conditions

When a match is going to be held at the Manuka Oval in Canberra, you know that the batswomen would be licking their lips in anticipation. That's how good a batting surface the Manuka Oval provides with a lot of consistency. So, don’t be surprised if even a total around 150 isn’t safe on Wednesday. The weather is expected to be as good as the pitch too with the sun set to dominate Canberra on match-day.

Venue Details

Canberra is a pretty popular venue with Australia playing a lot of limited overs matches at the venue. Recently, Australia beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in the second T20I of a three-match series earlier this month. Last season in the WBBL, Sydney Thunder chased down a target of 154 against the Hobart Hurricanes in just 17.2 overs.

Toss: To Bowl

While one wouldn’t be mistaken to think that chasing would be a good option at such a high-scoring venue, teams who have batted first in ODIs went onto win the majority of the games. As a result, we are sticking with the trend and expect the captains to bat first.